Establishing legal rights for naturally functioning ecosystems and native species

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“Without the soaring birds, without the great forests, the free-flowing streams, the sight of the clouds by day, and the stars by night, we become impoverished in all that makes us human.” – Thomas Berry, The Great Work

Prairie Dogs

Film Festival

First Annual Boulder Rights of Nature FILM FESTIVAL October 16-19, 2014.

Bumblebee on Coneflower

Bee Safe public program
February 11, 2015.
See "Upcoming Events" for details. (top right of all pages)

Bison

Extirpated from Boulder County. Current parks and open space management plans do not provide direction for how we can recover this species locally, or anywhere in eastern Colorado.

Ferruginous Hawk

Wintering ferruginous hawk numbers have declined 95% in eastern Boulder County since 1990, and there are no plans in place to protect their foraging habitat.

Boulder Creek

While Boulder County and the City of Boulder have initiated major efforts to restore sections of the creek, there are no comprehensive plans to restore all of the Creek Channel and the adjacent riparian area or to protect these areas and their native species populations from industrial and other harmful uses.

Northern Harrier

Critically imperiled in Boulder County. Current parks and open space management plans do not provide sufficient breeding habitat to sustain nesting populations.

About Rights of Nature

The rights of nature movement has taken off around the world since Ecuador recognized nature’s rights in its constitution in 2008. Yet in most places in the United States nature is still treated as property. Legally it is a commodity. Our current environmental regulatory laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, simply regulate how much can be exploited by whom.

In the United States and here in Colorado, the result has been that after nearly four decades since these major environmental laws were enacted, the natural world is much worse off than before.

Boulder Rights of Nature is working to get rights of nature established as law in one or more jurisdictions in Boulder County and elsewhere. (For details of our draft ordinance, click here.) In this work we are aligned with hundreds of community organizations across the country. We believe that living in balance and harmony with nature is essential for life, liberty, and well being for all species, and for the integral functioning of the ecological systems that give life to all species. We want a positive future, not an impoverished one.

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Contact Us!

Have questions about BRON and our goals? Want to send us comments or suggestions? Please send an email to info@boulderrightsofnature.org
OR send us a letter at
Boulder Rights of Nature, Box 2209, Boulder, CO 80306